The present invention relates to an information providing system, an information providing apparatus, an information providing method, an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program. More particularly, the invention relates to an information providing system, an information providing apparatus, an information providing method, an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program suitable for handling image data or sound data.
In widespread use today are client-server systems each comprising a server that provides its clients with image data or sound data via a network. Each client receives the image data or sound data coming from the server over the network so as to display images and to output sounds reflecting the received data.
One disadvantage of these client-server systems is this: that if any one of the users of a plurality of clients connected with the same server wants to communicate with any other user, each user must boot a chat program individually to see whether the other client has logged on. The procedure involved can be a troublesome, time-consuming chore.